iPad mini 7 rumors — 5 things you need to know about Apple’s next tablet
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The iPad Mini 7 has been hotly anticipated (and heavily leaked) for well over a year now. But now, as stock of the 6th Gen tablet starts to dwindle, there’s a very real chance we may see it at Apple’s September "Glowtime" event — where we’ll see the iPhone 16.
So as we enter the final countdown to September 9, let’s go through the 5 rumors most likely to be true about this new mini slab.
1. More of the same
I adore the iPad Mini 6’s hardware design — that sleek utilitarian chassis feels premium in the hand, and that magnetic edge for the Apple Pencil makes this operate like a lovely little digital jotter, alongside everything else it can do.
So while some may groan at seeing Apple sticking to this “iPad Air Mini” aesthetic (sorry, no foldable iPad this year), I’m pretty happy with it. Don’t expect dimensions to deviate wildly from the current size (7.7 x 5.3 x 0.25 inches), and unless we see a slightly bigger battery cell, that 0.65-pound weight should remain the same.
2. Less jelly, but no OLED
We’re not hearing anything about an updated display in the iPad mini 7, and reports seem to corroborate an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2266 x 1488-pixel resolution. I would have loved to see a 120Hz refresh rate, but Apple sticking stubbornly to 60Hz for anything other than its Pro models has been the modus operandi for years.
One welcome change we’re hearing about tackles the biggest problem we had with the iPad Mini 6’s screen — jelly scrolling. If you are to scroll up and down on the current Mini, you may notice the content wobble as one side of the screen lags against the other. The 7th Gen tablet looks set to fix this with a new display controller that works faster to keep it all in line.
Oh, and if you’ve been waiting for OLED, you’re going to be waiting for a lot longer. We’ve only just had our minds collectively blown by the tandem OLED panel in the M4 iPad Pro, and Apple is seemingly slow-rolling this display tech out to other models. Rumors point to 2026.
3. Increased RAM and storage
The first part of this has been rumored for a while now. A jump from the current 4GB to 8GB of RAM would help drastically improve multitasking on this device — something that you can really start to feel the current iPad mini sweat over.
And the second part is something I’m crossing my fingers over. Apple has shown its willingness to play ball in increasing the base model storage capacity on its current crop of devices (the M2 iPad Air for example). With the increasing size requirements for your films, TV shows, content and apps, 128GB should be the minimum.
4. A16? That’s a little sus
Next, we turn our attention to the processor inside. Currently, the 6th Gen iPad Mini sports an A15, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo did report back at the end of last year that the “main selling point” of iPad Mini 7 will be its chipset. That’s why it’s a little surprising to see the rumor mill point to the A16.
This is the report I’m a little suspicious of. Why? Well, a huge part of the Cupertino crew’s future is Apple Intelligence — the company’s AI play. Putting A16 in here will restrict you from using AI on the next iPad Mini, which seems a little counterproductive given how big of a thing this is.
If I was a betting man, I would predict A17 to come here (basically a rebrand of the current A17 Pro you see in iPhone 15 Pro Max), which does have the Neural Engine capabilities for AI to work.
5. Pricing remains the same
This one seems pretty open and shut if you are to look at the tipsters. The 6th Gen iPad mini launched at $499 — a $100 increase from the last model — but we’re expecting the iPad Mini 7 to remain at this same price.
So now, we wait. I think it's more likely than not to see the new iPad Mini drop at the iPhone event, but we are anticipating an October Apple Event talking about MacBooks. It could very well happen then! Either way, I recommend you don’t buy the current Mini for now, as I’m very confident this is coming soon.
